


From Runaway to X-Man

by SunflowerSupreme



Series: Ellie Phimister vs The World [1]
Category: Deadpool (2016), Marvel, X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-06-02 02:43:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6547390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunflowerSupreme/pseuds/SunflowerSupreme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ellie Phimister had never fit in, even before she started catching on fire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We Didn't Start the Fire

**Author's Note:**

> I tweaked what little we know of the comic's Negasonic Teenage Warhead to make her more inline with the movie version. But I also think she retains a bit of her precognitive powers from the comics. [ See this post for more information because it perfectly sums up my thoughts.](http://emmeldraws.tumblr.com/post/140165012968/theory-negasonic-teenage-warhead-kept-her%20)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve never read the comics (I can’t, they give me a headache), but I’ve seen Deadpool and the X-Men films (and listened to my best friend talk about the comics for hours), so this is my best approximation of how Negasonic Teenage Warhead (aka Ellie Phimister) might have joined the X-Men. Liberties have been taken. 
> 
> What I’ve done is basically meld what I’ve learned (through the internet) of the comics to fit into the movie universe. So yes I did play with (read: leave out) large portions of Magik’s backstory. I didn’t feel like trying to explain it (or understanding it well enough to explain because man is it confusing). And to be completely honest Magik is not a very important character in this story. I almost left her out entirely. 
> 
> I also tweaked what little we know of Negasonic Teenage Warhead to make her more inline with the movie version. I also think she retains a bit of her precognitive powers from the comics. [ See this post for more information](http://emmeldraws.tumblr.com/post/140165012968/theory-negasonic-teenage-warhead-kept-her%20)
> 
> The title of the first two chapters is borrowed from the Billy Joel song.

**Negasonic Teenage Warhead**

Ellie Phimister had never fit in, even before she started catching on fire.

When she was twelve she had run away from her home in the suburbs and joined the self-proclaimed ‘rat pack,’ a motley collection of other displaced youths who, like her, had no where else that they belonged. She had spent the next two years of her life – two of the best years – stealing food, acting twice her age to get into homeless shelters without suspicion, and generally being on the run from the cops (even though she doubted her parents were looking too hard for her). The others members of the pack called her Warhead, a nickname they had come up with after seeing her explosive temper. 

The first time she heard of the mutants she standing on a street corner, watching the TV in a deli when the movie was interrupted for a broadcast: explosions in the downtown area, believed to be the work of dangerous _mutants_. The people in the deli gasped, and Ellie made a mental note to avoid anything that caused a worse reaction than the homeless tramp on the street.

She saw one next, although she didn’t know he was a mutant at the time, while she was hiding in a small, cramped ally, waiting for the cops to pass. As the large shape came around the corner, she pressed herself farther into the crevice between the rubbish and the wall, barely able to glimpse him. Only when she was certain he was no cop did she look closer, and realize that he was unlike anything she had ever seen: tall and pale with sunken features. He looked like a human-shaped candle. Had she not lived on the streets long enough to know true horrors of starvation and deprivation she might have screamed. ¬Ellie ran from the small alley and told Rat, the leader of their little pack, what she had seen and his face darkened. “They’re freaks,” he said. “Mutants that live in abandoned Cold War shelters in town. Stay away from them Ellie.” She didn’t need to be told twice, the word _mutant_ sending a chill up her spine.

Living on the streets was no easy life, but for Ellie Phimister it was easier than being at home.

**Colossus**

Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin had liked his life before he turned into a giant, silver man.

The collective farm was hard work and Soviet Russia was not a pleasant place, but he had his family and that was all that mattered to him. When his sister was in danger, and his abnormality revealed, it was with a heavy heart that he joined the strange professor, although he knew that he would be working for the greater good.

America was strange to him, and he was forced to learn their language in order to communicate with his new teammates, the X-Men. The customs were more difficult to learn than the language, and although parts of it confused and terrified him, it had its benefits. He no longer had to worry about anyone going hungry, as there was always enough food to go around (although he felt guilty having so much when those he loved back home had so little).

It was both a curse and a blessing when Illyana exhibited signs of mutant powers and was brought to the X-Mansion. It meant that she was free of the Soviets, but it placed her in a new found danger: a house that periodically blew up. Both siblings soon learned to control their powers and became full members of the X-Men team. Colossus found it hard not to continually watch out for his sister even though she certainly didn’t need it. It was because of his caring nature (and his indestructible skin) that Professor Xavier approached him to search out a new mutant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it isn’t perfectly clear, the mutant Ellie sees in the alley is meant to be Calliban, the Morlock. 
> 
> Colossus is – to me – an interesting character because of his background in Soviet Russia (which we just finished studying in my History of Europe class) and I want to really, really explore the aftermath of that upbringing as much as possible. Magik might appear as a character a few times (my friend and I have decided that she and Warhead like to mess with Colossus).
> 
> Let me know what you think, please. I'm really out of my comfort zone with this story because I've never written for any kind of super hero before. But this was a plot bunny I couldn't get rid of!


	2. No Its All Been Burning Since the World's Been Turning

It started as a normal day, racing through back streets with a policeman hot on their heels. Ellie clutched their prize - a bag of stolen groceries – tightly in her hands. The members of the Rat Pack knew the streets of New York better than anyone, so when they raced around a corner and found their path blocked by unexpected construction, Ellie felt her world crashing down around her. Fear well inside of her. If the policeman caught them she would either be sent to jail or sent home, and she didn’t know which was worse. She had told them they ought to stay home and that she had a bad feeling about venturing out on that particular day. They had laughed at her.

Ellie didn’t say ‘I told you so,’ the words felt sick in her mouth. This was a case where she wished that she had been wrong. Rat turned sharply, his sharp mind calculating a way out even as the odds turned against them.

“We rush ‘em,” he said. The police wouldn’t shoot at unarmed teenagers, would they?

As the cop rounded the corner the small band launched forward, racing around him. He must have seen the bag in Ellie’s hands, because of the group she was the one that he grabbed and held onto. “Let me go!” she screamed, struggling to break free. There was no easy escape from his tight grip, and the others were still running, leaving her behind. Out of desperation Ellie dropped the bag and slammed both hands into his chest, sending him reeling, though he was still in her way even without having a hold on her.

She knew how the police worked well enough to know that backup couldn’t be far behind. Ellie had a make a break as soon as possible. Fear continued to build up in her chest, a feeling of helplessness that disgusted her. The policeman was talking, saying something, no doubt trying to talk her into coming with him, but his words sounded muffled over the roaring in her ears. It seemed to be coming from the fear welling in her chest.

She felt like she was being ripped apart.

With a scream Ellie let the feeling escape hurtling out into the world. The alley caught fire and she fell to her knees. The policeman was running away. Rat stepped out from behind the dumpster he had escaped to while waiting for Ellie to free herself.

“You’re one of them,” he whispered, fear and revulsion filling his voice. “A mutant.”

Ellie wanted to protest - she wasn’t a freak - but she felt weak, frightened. Her clothes had all burned off, all that remained was charred metal: bits of zippers, buttons, and the underwire from her bra. She stared, entranced and numb to Rat’s shouting, not looking up until he began to run.

“Wait!” she gasped, struggling to her feet, too terrified and exhausted to be ashamed of her nakedness.

“No! We don’t want your kind!” With those words he was gone, and with him the life she had built for herself.

Ellie didn’t know what to do, she sunk to her knees again, sitting in the charred remains of the alley and waiting for the police to arrive and take her away. There was no sense in running since she had nowhere to go.

She didn’t know how long she sat in the alley, the police seemed to be slow to come, and soon her senses were gradually returning to her. She was stark naked in a back alley in the middle of New York City. Shaken or not she knew she needed to move, but even in New York with all its’ strangeness a naked teenager would draw attention. Everything in the alley had been reduced to ash when she went off so there was nothing for her to scavenge to cover herself and escape down a street. Thankfully Rat had taught her how to lift up manhole covers and disappear underground, so that was what she did, slipping into the filth of the sewers until she could find something better.

Rat had told her something else, something he hadn’t meant to be advice. There were others like her – mutants – and she would find them in abandoned bomb shelters under the city. Ellie moved quickly, trying not to think about what she was stepping in and the filth dripping from the walls. She quickly lost track of how long she had been moving, her muscles beginning to protest the abuse. When she passed what appeared to be the same electrical box for the third time she finally stopped and rested, admitting, even if only to herself, that she was lost.

Something rattled and she turned sharply as a large man stepped out of an adjacent passage.

He was huge, at least six feet tall, and wearing strange clothes, something she imagined a secret government organization might wear. Suddenly Ellie remembered her nakedness and began to back away. The women she had encountered during her time on the streets had left her with little doubt of what a man might do to someone in her position.

She screamed and backed up, the same feeling as before welling up inside her. It was fear but it was something else, like a flame that started in the center of her body and ripped outward. He shouted for her to stop in a heavy Russian accent, but she ignored him. Being foreign only made him more frightening.

The entire tunnel filled with light and she could see the outline of the man in front of her, in the shimmering heat he seemed to grow, filling more of the tunnel until his head nearly touched the ceiling. As the fire fizzled out Ellie stumped, trying not to fall into the filth that caked the ground. To her surprise the man caught her, and something – a coat or some other item of clothing, she wasn’t sure - was placed around her bony shoulders, covering much of her body. Numbly she wondered how it had survived the blast.

“I am not here to harm you,” he said softly, holding her arm to keep her standing. “I am like you.”

“What?” she asked, looking up at him and shoving him away, “Did the freak show come to town?”

“I am a mutant.”

“Yeah. A freak. Like me.” She stared at the stranger, wondering how he had found her and how he – and his clothes – had been unaffected by her blast. The fabric on her shoulders didn’t feel like anything she had felt before, but then again it had been a long time since she touched anything clean. Still exhausted from exploding twice, she swayed on her feet and leaned against the wall.

“No!” he objected. “There is nothing wrong with us!”

“Well that’s easy for you to say!” she shouted, pulling back and wrapping his shirt more tightly around her. “You look normal enough!” If he was a mutant, he didn't look the part, Ellie thought darkly, remembering the man she had seen before, the waxy one. Was her skin going to melt and look like that? Had it already. She risked a glace down at herself. Sticking out from his baggy shirt her feet and legs looked normal enough.

He stared at her for a moment, and then stepped back. His skin rippled and began to shine, and then, like before when she had lit the tunnel on fire, he appeared to grow, towering even more above her. His skin had turned to metal.

If Ellie hadn’t started combusting just that morning, she might have screamed. Instead she raised an eyebrow and stuttered, “What the fuck?”

“Language,” admonished the giant. “I am Colossus,” he said, before shrinking back down to a slightly more human height (although he still towered over Ellie, most people did). “But to humans, I am known as Piotr.”

“Warhead,” she whispered, staring, still trying to set back. “What do you want, P-“ she didn’t trust herself to pronounce his name. “Colossus.”

“To help you,” he replied.

“What’s in it for you?” People didn’t do things for the sake of being nice. They did things to get something out of it. Even the people who helped the homeless did it for the volunteer hours or a class or job. They didn’t care about the people who relied on those shelters.

He blinked. “I come from a school that helps people like us,” he said. “We are known as the X-Men. We would like you to join us.”

Ellie shook her head. She didn’t want anything to do with a bunch of mutants. “I have somewhere to go already,” she snapped.

He seemed surprised and then quickly it changed to concern. “Where?”

“Does it matter?” She didn’t want to tell him, it didn’t seem like a wise move to tell a stranger her plans (even though he had managed to find her here, in the sewers, hopefully once she found the others he wouldn’t trouble her).

“If Magneto has approached you, you should know that he is not to be trusted.”

“No.”

“You are not going to tell me, are you?” he asked, seemed resigned (although there might have been a bit of amusement in his eyes).

“No.”

“Is it safe where you are going?”

She didn’t know the answer to that, but it couldn’t be any less safe than standing in a sewer, wearing nothing but a strange man’s shirt. But Ellie didn’t say that. She also didn’t say that she was terrified that she wouldn’t be able to find the others, that her skin would melt off like the mutant she had seen, and that she would be an outcast even among the other mutants. She said none of those things because never once had anyone listened. So she lied, “Yes.”

He still looked doubtful. “If not Magneto, are you going to the Morlocks?”

That was a name Ellie recognized. It came on her suddenly and even though she couldn’t remember where she had heard it, she remembered the tone that had accompanied the words: ‘That’s Morlock territory. Those freaks won’t want us near.’

It had to be the Morlocks that she was searching for. She knew that as surely as she had known that it had been a bad idea going out that morning and as surely as she was coming to know that this Piotr was not going to hurt her. “Yes.”

Suddenly Ellie’s mind began to spin, the world faded away and images flashed across her mind. She was crouching in a sewer, surrounded by the waxen man and others, she was coughing, blood came up. Something welled up inside her as the images faded and she was left with the taste of blood and a single firm thought: she needed to go with Piotr.

She must have lost her balance, because when the fuzziness faded and she snapped back to reality Piotr was supporting her again, his hands wrapping around her bony arms.

“Warhead, please,” he said. “Stop using your powers before you are injured.”

She panted, leaning into him and closing her eyes. “You said your school could help,” she said slowly.

“Yes,” he agreed.

“My real name is Ellie.” She wasn’t sure why she decided to tell him, it had been a very long time since anyone had called her by her real name. But she told him and when he rewarded her with a soft smile she was glad.

“Pleasure to meet you Ellie,” Piotr said.

She nodded. “Pleasure.” She moved to step away from him and things began to spin again. “Let me help.” He wrapped his arm around her, helping her to limp from the sewer. “I can carry you-“

“No.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d just like to say that my knowledge of New York’s sewers come from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Morlock episodes of the X-Men Animated Show so they are probably not factual or accurate in anyway.
> 
> I have no idea if all the X-Men uniforms are fireproof or not, but for the sake of not wanting two naked characters to deal with I said they are.


	3. The Neverland Mansion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes the title is a reference to Deadpool’s line about “the neverland mansion of a creepy, old, bald” Xavier. I couldn’t stop myself.

# Colossus

The girl – Ellie – leaned on him increasingly as they continued their slow trudge through the tunnels. He wished that she would let him do more, there was no need for her to push herself so much and it was not healthy, but she seemed stubborn. Piotr had followed Professor X’s instructions and gone to fetch her, but all he had found was a burned out alley and several frightened looking policeman. After sending word to Professor X and learning that she had escaped down a manhole, he had followed. The smell in the sewers was horrible, but nothing was worse than finding Ellie – she couldn’t be much older than sixteen or seventeen – in the condition she was in. She looked like she had come from a war zone. By her jutting bones and matted hair, anyone could tell Ellie hadn’t had a real home in a very long time.

He had been warned that her mutation could be dangerous, but the explosion had still surprised him with its force and destruction, leaving him with barely enough time to change into his metal form. Everything in that section of sewer except for him, his uniform (which he had been told was fireproof but had never believed until now), and the girl herself had been vaporized or charred beyond recognition. When he had realized she intended to go with the Morlocks he had come closer than he ever imagined himself being to forcing her to come back with him for everyone’s safety. He had been eternally grateful when she had decided to come with him.

But he wasn’t certain Ellie was going to manage the walk back to the X-Van. The longer they walked the more she swayed and seemed to loose her balance, clearly exhausted from using her powers as much as she had.

“Do you need to rest?” he asked gently.

“No!” She glared at him and pushed away, taking two steps on her own before her legs. He caught her before she could fall.

“Ellie,” he said gently, “please, allow me to help.”

She glared at him. He was afraid of offending her farther and risk her deciding not to come with him or he would have been more insistent. Ellie seemed to be an incredibly stubborn girl who wasn’t going to let him push her around, even if it might end up being for her own good.

“I can walk,” she replied stiffly.

“Of course you can.” He wrapped his arm around her, lifting as much weight as he could without picking her up, and they resumed their slow progress through the sewers. She could walk, but that didn’t mean she should.

Piotr wondered if the smell bothered her as much as it did him, but then again, if she had been living on the streets as long as he suspected perhaps it was not so unusual to her. She seemed to be growing increasingly pale, but he hadn’t seen any proof that she was loosing blood, so he just did what he could to keep her moving. The sooner they were able to return to the X-Van the happier he would be.

She stopped suddenly and without warning, which caused Piotr to nearly trip over her. The collusion caused them both to lost their balance.

“There is no shame in letting me help.” She glared at him and he sighed, pushing matted hair from her eyes.

Judging by the look he received from her, she thought very differently. Ellie stubbornly pushed past him, taking a few shaky steps on her own.

He watched her move, shaking his head. “Ellie, you are going to hurt yourself,” he scolded gently.

“I don’t need help!”

“I would like to help you.” There had to be some way of making Ellie see his point. If only he could make her realize that there was nothing wrong with allowing someone to take care of you. He was beginning to fear that Ellie would never see it that way. “You have had long day. Puts stress on your body. Normal.”

She scowled. Normal didn’t seem to be good enough for her. “Are all of you X-Men like this?”

He thought of Logan as he chuckled and quickly assured her, “No.”

She muttered under her breath, it sounded like she was wishing one of the ‘less annoying’ X-Men had come for her.

“You know I can hear you.” He wondered if she was trying to annoy him enough that he would leave. Had she changed her mind and wanted a way out that didn’t require admitting to it? There was no telling with women.

She shrugged. “You’re still here.”

Perhaps this was why Professor Xavier had sent him. He was inflammable and persistent. “I have nothing better to do.” She turned her back, her shoulders tensing, and he wondered if that was the wrong thing to say. So he continued, “There is nothing more important than helping others who may be confused or lost.”

Ellie didn’t argue with him about that. After a moment she looked over her shoulder and slowly nodded. “Alright.”

He offered her his arm and she leaned on him heavily, allowing him to lead her from the sewers.

When they reached the manhole he had entered through he stepped aside and tried to let her go first out of politeness. She snorted. “I’m not wearing anything under this shirt.”

He had (intentionally) forgotten her near-nakedness. “Alright. Can you climb?”

“I got here didn’t I?”

He took that as a yes – it had better be a yes – and hurriedly climbed the ladder, glancing over his shoulder to make sure she was making steady progress. Somehow, it seemed to surprise her as much as it did him, she made it to the top and was soon back on the ground level. He replaced the manhole cover and helped her to stand. “We are almost there.”

Ellie had either run out of things to say or she had run out of energy to say it with, either way she silently nodded and took his hand so he could lead her to the van.

“There,” he said, spotting the X-Van and directing Ellie toward it. “We are almost there.”

She nodded, clinging to his arm for dear life. When they were only a few feet from the van he finally gave up on watching her struggle, lifted her into his arms, and before she could protest he was placing her into the passenger seat. “Buckle,” he instructed, shutting the door and moving to the other side of the van. When he sat down and started the engine she still hadn’t buckled, instead she appeared to have fallen asleep already. Piotr reached across her and buckled her in before starting the van and pulling out of the spot, moving toward the X-Mansion.

He shook Ellie awake as they neared the gates. For a moment she panicked, as though forgetting where she was. Before Piotr could move to calm her she seemed to remember and relaxed of her own accord. “We are almost there,” he said, pointing to the large gates in front of them.

Ellie gaped. He knew how she felt. The mansion was unlike anything he had ever seen before arriving, and judging by the way she sat up and stared in shock she hadn’t seen anything like it either.

Illyana was waiting for them when the van pulled in, no doubt having been told of their arrival by the Professor or Jean Grey. Or perhaps she had been standing there since he had left. There was really no telling with her.

“You smell lovely,” she informed them as they exited the van. “Where do you get your perfume?”

Ellie glared and for a moment Piotr was afraid she was going to explode again. She seemed to think better of it however, and looked at him demandingly. “This is my sister, Illyana,” he said with a vague gesture and a pleading look, begging his sister to behave. “We call her Magik.”

“Warhead,” Ellie said, looking at Illyana as though sizing her up for a fight.

Illyana grinned at Ellie’s chosen name – and her brother found himself thinking a desperate plea that she would remain silent – before turning to Piotr. “Jean’s waiting for you.” Illyana told her brother. “The Professor seemed to think you might need a doctor. I don’t know where he got that idea.”

Ellie clearly did need a doctor – and a bath and clothes that fit – but for a moment she looked as though she was going to refuse just to spite Illyana. Before she could make up her mind, Piotr put his hand on her shoulder. “Follow me,” he said, pushing her away and gesturing with his head for Illyana to not follow them.

“What does she do?” Ellie asked as they walked away, clearly still sizing her up for a fight.

“Teleportation and…… You probably do not want to know.” Ellie looked curious, but thankfully did not push the subject, as he was not entirely sure how to explain it.

He led her into the mansion, hoping they didn’t run into too many inquisitive students (or faculty) because he had no doubt they looked rather absurd between the smell and Ellie wearing his shirt as a dress. Thankfully most of the students seemed to be occupied with class, and although they did pass Bobby he seemed just as happy to stay as far away from the smell as he could.

Ellie seemed more alert after her nap, and she was still taking in the manor with wide-eyed appreciation. “You live here?” she asked.

“This is X-Mansion,” he replied, nodding. “Professor Xavier’s School for Talented Youngsters.”

“That’s the school you mentioned?”

“Yes. It is very good school.” He thought to ask her how far she had gotten in school, but then thought better of it. It would probably be a touchy subject and one better left to Jean or the Professor. And if she went off again he was beginning to doubt her ability to survive it.

Ellie’s breathing was growing rough again, no doubt she was still tired, and he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Come. Clinic this way.”

# Jean Grey

Jean smelled Piotr and the girl long before she saw them.

When they stepped into the clinic it took all of her medical training not to start laughing at the picture they made. Piotr towered over the much smaller girl (who was oddly enough wearing his shirt and possibly nothing else, but Jean had learned long ago not to question the X-Men) but some how she looked more frightening with her slightly wild eyes and hard face.

“We were in sewer,” Piotr said, clearly thinking that would clear up the matter. Instead it served to confuse Jean more. “Jean Grey this is-“

“Warhead.” The girl cut off whatever Piotr was about to say, meeting Jean’s eyes as though challenging her to question what her real name was.

Jean chose to ignore the challenge. It was seldom worth it to fight with teen girls, and with her gifts if she wanted to know Warhead's real name she could. “Hello, Warhead, I’m Dr. Grey,” she said, motioning them into the clinic. “How are you?”

“I found out I’m a freak, lost all my friends, burned off all my clothes, and haven’t eaten in two days.”

Warhead was nothing if not blunt and Jean almost respected her for that. Her situation hardly seemed to phase her. The thing that perplexed Jean the most was Piotr's wince at the last part as though he was unaware of it before then. “We can get you something to eat then,” Jean said, placing a gloved hand on Warhead’s shoulder. It was immediately shrugged off. “May I take a blood sample first?”

Warhead frowned. “Why?” Her eyes darted to Piotr as though trying to gauge his reaction.

“In case you’re sick or injured.” And because Jean wanted to see exactly how malnourished the girl was, and decide if she needed to start her on supplements or medications.

Warhead looked at Piotr who nodded encouragingly before extending her arm. At least she was willing to listen to someone. “Sit down,” Jean said, turning away to grab the needle and disinfectant. She cleaned a large patch of Warhead’s arm; not needing to ask what she was covered in to know it wasn’t sanitary, before carefully sliding the needle into her skin. Warhead was completely stiff, staring at the far wall with vacant eyes, trying not to take in her surroundings.

Jean couldn’t get a good read on her, her thoughts were too jumbled and almost painful to touch. “How old are you?” she asked as she turned away with her sample.

“Fourteen.”

Piotr stared, clearly another thing he hadn’t been aware of. Warhead was hard to gauge, her eyes were older than they should have been, and Jean could see why he might guess her as being older than she was: wishful thinking. “A wonderful age,” she said, for lack of anything better.

Warhead shrugged.

There were other questions Jean would like to ask her too, but knowing Piotr he would appreciate if she waited until he left to ask Warhead about menstruation or pregnancy. “I imagine you’d like a shower, and I can bring some clothes down, I’m sure we have something in your size.”

“Sure.”

Jean smiled. “Follow me.” Warhead hopped off the table and for a moment it looked as though she was going to fall over (Piotr readied himself to move and catch her), but she steadied herself and took a few stubborn steps toward Jean.

The doctor led her through the doors to the clinic’s bathroom and quickly showed her how to change the temperature and where the soap was. “If you need anything let me know.”

“Sure.” Warhead said, already looking as though she wanted Jean to leave.

“I’ll be right out there.”

“Okay.”

Jean was getting the opinion she was very unwanted at that moment. With a final smile and a promise to find her clothes she stepped out and shut the door behind her, turning to stare at Piotr. “What a kid.”

He seemed amused. “Ellie is a very unique child. I thought she was older." The last part was added softly, almost sadly, and Jean opted not to comment on it. 

“So that’s her name?” Jean asked.

“Ah… It would be best if you did not mention that I told you.”

_One of those_ , Jean thought with a smile. There were all kinds around the X-Mansion, and Warhead wouldn't be the first to turn her back on her real identity. Ellie certainly seemed like too sweet and innocent of a name for the fighter she had met. “I heard nothing,” she promised him.

“Very tired,” he said, eyes watching the door she had vanished through with concern. “She has used powers two or more times today.”

Jean frowned. “She’s still walking?” she asked.

“She took nap.”

“It shouldn’t have been enough.” The reading that she was able to get on Warhead, no matter how strange, didn’t make her seem as worn out as she should be after such a day. Perhaps she was stronger than she looked. She would almost have to be to have survived what seemed like a wild life.

“Stubborn.”

“Ah,” Jean smiled. “And speaking of stubborn, you should probably wash too. Unless you like the smell of sewage.”

Piotr grimaced, as though just remembering what he smelled like. “Good idea,” he said.

“I’ll let you know how she is later, I know how you worry.” About everything and everyone.

He nodded, seeming relived, and turned toward the door. Jean’s eyes flicked to a nearby panel, a read out of information on the shower. She gasped.

Piotr stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder with concern.

“She’s turned the temperature of the shower to over 120 degrees.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, one of the few things I know about Magik is that she likes to mess with her brother and has a wicked sense of humor. Piotr's hesitation to tell Ellie about her powers is because he's trying not to scare her off, and how do you explain to someone that your sister is basically the Queen of Hell?


End file.
